The present invention relates to user interfaces and processes for explaining differences between values entered by users of income-tax preparation programs and corresponding values applied to income-tax returns.
Existing income-tax preparation programs typically operate by asking a user a series of questions to assemble information which is needed to populate forms in the user's income-tax return. Then, the programs perform calculations on the entered values and place the resulting allowed values in the appropriate fields in the income-tax forms. Unfortunately, due to the complexities of tax codes not all of the information that the user provides match the values that are ultimately placed in the corresponding fields in the tax forms. This is especially true for fields that are related to deductions and credits.
Furthermore, the only way for a user of an existing income-tax preparation program to see what the user is able to deduct is if the user prints out the forms and checks whether or not the allowed values in the forms differ from the original values the user provided. Even if the user performs this time-consuming task, the user still has no explanation for differences, if any, between values the user provided and the corresponding allowed values in the forms. As a consequence, the user may be confused about how the program operates and/or whether the program is operating correctly, and as a consequence the quality of the overall user experience may be degraded. In addition, the user may contact a provider of the income-tax preparation program to attempt to resolve the apparent discrepancies, which increases the expense associated with providing customer service for these products.